2023 Val di Sole DH Photo Journal

After a week off that saw some riders head to Crankworx Innsbruck and others to the mythical tracks of Schladming or Morzine, the third round of the DH World Cup rocked up in Val di Sole, Italy. Have you ever noticed how some countries you visit just feel like they should? Italy is one of those. As soon as you come through the Mont Blanc tunnel into the Valle d’Aosta, it just feels Italian. Buildings, people, traffic, views. All very Italian. And that doesn’t change as you exit the mountains into the Piedmont region, cross the flatlands of Lombardy (nicely skirting around Milan) and then head back into the mountains of the Trentino-South Tyrol region.


Coming into Val di Sole, one thing that has changed, for the moment, is the Black Snake. The Black Snake, for those that may be new to the sport and this particular venue, is the name of the World Cup track here. At under 4 minutes long, with a length of just over 2km and vertical drop of 550m, it’s dubbed to be one of the most challenging courses on the circuit, due to the rocky and rooty way it snakes down the mountain. Having hosted the DH World Cup for over a decade, the track got pretty beaten up. So, the organisers decided to solve this by adding soil and sewing grass seed. In theory, this is a good idea. But in practice, it’s a different story. It didn’t hold up too bad for track-walk, but an afternoon of junior practice soon put paid to those hours of hard work. The easiest way to describe it is a dust fest. Imagine hundreds of passages of knobbly tyres ripping through dry soil, packed in-between rocks, boulders and roots and you’ll have a good idea of how the track looks now. And that’s just after one afternoon. Rain is on the forecast, and that could be crucial to keeping the track together.






Anyway, down to the racing. First things first, juniors. As mentioned before, the track was getting beaten up pretty quickly. Certain lines that were working during practice were starting to get worn out and sometimes not rideable. For the juniors to qualify well, they would have to play a solid game. In the women, Kiwi Sacha Earnest put down the fastest time, bettering Van Leuven by 4.5 seconds. In third was current leader Lisa Bouladou, only 4.9 seconds behind. There was a 15 second gap to Roa Sanchez in 6th, and Pinkbike Racing’s Kenyon came down in 9th over 16 seconds behind. Apparently, due to her protected status, meaning that she didn’t have to push in qualifying. For the boys, things switched up again. Ryan Pinkerton put down the fastest time, but for reasons I still can’t understand, it will be Kiefer who will come down last tomorrow, ahead of Hauser and Kuhn.


















Junior finals day and we woke up to rain. First practice laps in the morning were in mixed conditions, with some parts of the track benefiting from the moisture whilst others stayed dry and dusty. Over the course of the morning, the sun would eventually burn through the cloud leaving ideal conditions for racing. For the junior women, no-one could better the time of first place qualifier Earnest who put down an absolute stormer of a run. 12 seconds up on fellow countrywoman Van Leuven and nearly 15 seconds up on current overall leader Bouladou. Kenyon would not be able to turn up the heat for finals, finishing in 9th. For the junior men, Lucas Lagneau put down a respectable time that would see him in end up in fourth place. Last man down Kiefer couldn’t better his qualifying result, ending up in third. Man of the day goes to Pinkerton who went down between the first and second splits and still managed a second place, only beaten by Kuhn. Speaking of the Canadian, his consistency is really showing now after three rounds of racing, adding a win to his two previous second place results. Will he stay ahead of the pack until the end of the season? Italian home boy Hauser was absolutely charging until he got caught out in the compressions at the bottom of the first steep wooded section, ending up with a DNF. He will certainly still be looking to add a second win to his results sheet this year.















Overnight rain would not put a damper on elite finals day. Testament to how dry and dusty this track was, what rain did fall didn’t make too much of an impact. Women’s practice was pretty quiet, just one or two runs from a handful of the girls. I guess they were waiting for the open sections and rocks to dry a little. But in actual fact the track wasn’t running much different from the day before. Also helped along by the trail builders sprinkling dust on to the wetter parts! The men were more keen to test traction and a few got caught out. Come semis time, the sun and heat had done its part to dry the track out again. Only for it to rain again at the start of mens finals (more on that later). The familiar names of Holl and Balanche would again be top in the women’s semis, with Hemstreet putting in a time good enough for third place, followed by Blewitt and Cabirou. For finals, those names wouldn’t changer much. Blewitt put in an exceptional run to take the hot seat ahead of Cabirou and Hoffmann, only for it to be taken away by a solid run from Balanche. With Holl stealing the glory by 2.9 seconds in the end. More great racing from the women. Notably, Seagrave took a big slam at the start of the woods. It really isn’t easy trying to get back to the top after injury, but you can’t knock her for giving it her all. Respect is due.













For the men, Vergier, Williams, Iles, Goldstone and Kolb would make up the top 5 in semis. So many good names didn’t make it to finals, but that’s just part of the game. Especially when there are so many riders capable of putting in World Cup winning worthy runs. Finals. Rain again. Which made it difficult for some of the first riders down. Slick spots and dust pockets were back. Even so, Kerr managed a time that most of the pack couldn’t better, until Brosnan came down and the racing heated up. The Aussie put just over 2 seconds into Kerr’s time with an impressive run. Then it was Daprela’s turn to get the crowd going wild, almost as much as his run. At one point he was 3 seconds up, got pretty loose and still bettered Brosnan by 1.5 seconds. But in the gate next was Goldstone. And boy did he fly. A solid bottom half of the track would bring him across the line to his first elite win, a clear 2.2 seconds ahead of Iles in second place. Neither Williams (who crashed out just before exiting the woods) nor Vergier could match the skill of the young Canadian today.






































That's it from me for the moment. I'll be back again for Vallnord. Check out more on my Instagram.

Words and photos by Sharpography.